A Day in the Daily Planet Newsroom
by Ryan Brooklyn
Summary: Oneshot for Superman Returns.  A typical day at the Daily Planet involving a bumbling Clark, a yelling Perry, an excited Jimmy, and a desheveld Lois.  This is my first humor fic, so go easy on me. :P  There's a little ClarkLoisSuperman in here too.


**A/N: So I was watching some old episodes of Smallville last night and got inspired. Yes, I know this is for Superman Returns, but it was Smallville that gave me the idea. Well that and the preview for His Girl Friday. Be on the look out for two more chapters that will complete Smallville: Where There's Smoke, and a brand new Smallville fanfic that proves to be very interesting.**

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own anything Superman related._

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**A Day in the Daily Planet Newsroom**

Lois Lane stumbled into the Daily Planet newsroom. Her hair was put up into a messy clip and her clothes were disheveled. She was carrying a large cup of coffee in one hand, and a stack of papers under her arm. High heeled shoes slipped on the tile and she slipped, catching herself before she could do serious damage to the floor. Sliding into her desk chair, she set down her coffee and papers and took a deep breath.

The wondrous smell of ink, paper, and coffee filled her nostrils. The loud clacking of keys and shouts of reporters filtered into her ears. She loved working at the Daily Planet. Never in her wildest dreams would she have seen herself as a reporter. She rolled her chair closer to her typewriter and poised her fingers over the keys.

"LOIS!"

Lois almost fell out of her chair as the loud voice of her editor Perry White carried across the room. Young Jimmy Olsen, who was just walking by, stopped by her chair and pointed to the editor's office.

"I think he wants you," he stated to Lois.

Lois gritted her teeth and smiled. "Thanks, Jimmy," she half-growled.

She arose from her chair and made her way quickly to Perry White's office. Halfway there she was intercepted by a tall, bespectacled man. He tripped over a desk on his way to catch her.

"Lois, hey Lois," he said as he straightened.

"Hello Clark." Lois kept moving towards her destination.

"Lois, I was wondering, that is if you have the time, well you see—"

"Hey, why don't you finish that thought later? I've got a date with the boss."

Clark Kent pushed his thick glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, that'll be—"

But Lois was already on the other side of the door.

Perry White rounded on his favorite reporter, his tie loosened and his hair standing on end from the many times he had run his hand through it.

"Where were you last night?" He yelled as soon as Lois made and appearance.

"It was Jason's birthday party!" Lois said.

"Well, while you were at your little birthday party, Superman stopped three robberies, one murder attempt, and one suicide attempt! I thought you were my ace-reporter on Superman."

"I'm sorry, sir. I'll try to get him to tell me about it the next time I see him."

"No need for that, Kent got us the whole story."

"Clark?" Lois asked incredulously. But he had been—

"Yeah, wrote a nice little piece on it. Now get out of here and do that article you were working on before, the Luthor Case."

Lois nodded and left the office quickly, making a note to talk to Clark about his article on Superman. She practically jogged back to her desk, drinking some coffee and burning the roof of her mouth. She began writing, the clacking of the typewriter keys bringing a small curl to her lip. She was almost done with her first draft when she heard someone behind her.

"Uh, 's-scandal' is spelled with one 'L.'"

Lois smiled and swiveled her chair around to face Clark.

"I thought you were at the party last night," she said, crossing her arms and leaning back. Clark blinked.

"I-I was." He pushed up his glasses.

"If you were at the party, how could you have spoken to Superman about what happened last night?"

"I left early," he said.

"Uh-huh." She stood swiftly. Clark backed up and knocked over a lamp.

As he hastened to straighten it, his elbow caught a stack of papers and they fell onto the floor, scattering in all directions.

"Oh, I'll get that," Lois offered.

"No, I got it," Clark bent down.

Their heads bumped. Lois clutched at hers while Clark jerked up like he had been hit by lightning.

"Lois, I'm so sorry!" Clark cried, helping her up.

"That's fine," she said.

She sat down as Clark knelt to pick up the papers. After he had set everything to rights, he turned back to Lois who was now facing her typewriter once more, tapping her chin with a pencil and staring at the half written article in front of her.

"So Lois," Clark said casually. "How are things with you and Richard?"

Lois did not turn. "Fantastic, why?"

"Well, I was just wondering, see, because uh—"

"I got it!" The excited voice of Jimmy Olsen broke through Clark's sentence.

Lois turned to see what he was talking about. He was waving a printed photograph in his hand. Clark stood and took it from the ecstatic boy's hand.

"I got it! I really got it!"

"Got what Jimmy?" Lois asked tiredly, reaching for her coffee cup. She took a tentative sip.

"A close up of Superman! I finally got it!"

Clark's mouth twitched as he handed the photo to Lois. She set her cup down and looked down at the paper in her hands.

It was a head and shoulders shot. A man with dark wavy hair and wearing a red cape stood in front of a brick wall. You could just see the top of the large yellow "S" that graced the back of the cape. Lois gave a small laugh, handing the photo back to Jimmy.

"Jimmy, he's not even facing the camera. This is a picture of the back of his head."

"I know," the boy said, "but isn't it amazing?" Clark raised an eyebrow. Jimmy hastened to rephrase his sentence. "I mean, that I got a picture of him. Not that he isn't amazing, it's just uh—"

Lois was laughing for real now. Jimmy flushed red and muttered something about needing to develop more pictures. He made a hasty exit and Lois calmed down. She turned back to her article.

"How many 'fs' are in 'catastrophe'?" She asked as Clark started back to his desk.

"None," Clark called, smiling to himself.

"Oh," Lois said quietly, rewriting her misspelled word.

Peace reigned for the next hour; as much as peace can reign in a busy newsroom. Reporters bustled in and out, calling to their friends, bragging about their latest story, or moping because a reader complained. Lois finally finished her final draft and pulled the last piece of paper out of the typewriter. She took another sip of her coffee and made a face at its lukewarm state as she stacked her article nicely in the center of her desk.

"Another article complete," she said to herself proudly.

"Hey Lois, do you have a pen I can—"

Clark bumbled across the row of cubicles to her and bumped heavily into her desk as he seemingly tripped over nothing. His flailing hand caught her coffee cup and she gave a shout of dismay as it toppled over her neatly placed article.

"My article!" She cried.

"My goodness, I'm so sorry!" Clark's bright blue eyes were as wide as saucers.

Jimmy came running over. "Lois what's wrong? I could hear you from way over . . ."

He trailed off when he saw the coffee stained article. A small crowd had gathered to watch as Lois turned on Clark.

"I had just finished it! Why did you have to come bumbling over here for?"

Clark blinked and fiddled with his glasses nervously, loosening his tie at the same time.

"I'm sorry Lois," he said in a hurt tone. "I just wanted a pen—"

Lois waved him off with an angry hand, turning her back on him. "Never mind, never mind. I'll just copy it down on new paper. But geez Clark, you should take some lessons for balance or something."

"Ballroom dancing helps with that," Jimmy piped up helpfully.

Clark gave him a slight look behind Lois's back. The boy blinked innocently. He turned to Lois.

"If it'll make you feel better, you can have my picture of Superman." He offered.

Lois gave him a small smile. "Thanks Jimmy, but I'll be okay."

"Don't worry Lois," he patted her shoulder. "You'll get another chance to see Superman, you'll see. I think you're his favorite citizen."

Behind them a desk rattled as Clark's grip slipped off of it. Lois's smile widened.

"I suppose so," she said.

Jimmy gave her an encouraging smile and nod and started off for his desk. Lois turned to Clark who was staring at her.

"What?" She asked dubiously.

Clark cleared his throat nervously. "Nothing."

Lois nodded and sat back down at her desk. She placed a fresh piece of paper into the typewriter and paused for a moment. Then her fingers came up and she began to copy down her article, word for word. Clark stared at her a minute longer, his eyes tender as they watched her hands, her shoulders, her neck, and then her hair. He reached up and fingered the thick glasses that were a part of his alias. He longed to whip them off and sweep Lois off her feet and fly her high above Metropolis. He stepped forward slightly, before heaving a silent sigh and turning away, walking slowly back to his desk.

Lois's fingers paused briefly over the keys. Her eyes traveled to the picture of her, Richard, and Jason. Looking into Jason's blue eyes, her gaze then moved to the article she had written about Superman last year. His perfect white teeth smiled at her from the black and white photo. She smiled back and returned to her article, her mind no longer intent on her writing, but far away in the clouds where she yearned to be with her Superman.

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